Daniel Cohen

Environmental Science Graduate Student - Ben Gurion University

Yahel Social Change Fellowship 2020-22

In 2020, I joined the Yahel Social Change Program in Lod aspiring to engage with Israel’s diverse society and delve into the complexities of community-based work. I was drawn to Yahel’s focus on forming meaningful relationships with local community leaders as a foundation for impactful service, and was excited by the opportunity to better understand the challenges faced by communities in Israel’s social periphery while actively contributing to local support systems.

During my time as a Yahel Fellow in 2020/2021, I immersed himself in various community projects. I taught English at Al-Ola Arabic High School, where I supported students in developing critical language skills, helping to expand their academic and professional opportunities. I volunteered at a youth center, where he taught informally and engaged with young people to build confidence and interpersonal skills. I also interned at Blend.Ar, an NGO teaching Arabic as a way to foster understanding and build social resilience between different cultural communities.

Through these experiences, I engaged deeply and authentically with the nuanced realities of Israel’s social landscape which fueled my commitment to culturally-informed work.

"Through these experiences, Daniel engaged deeply and authentically with the nuanced realities of Israel’s social landscape and fueled his commitment to culturally-informed work."

After Yahel, I joined EcoPeace Middle East, a regional environmental peacebuilding organization uniting Israelis, Palestinians, and Jordanians to address shared climate and environmental challenges. This work required many of the skills I developed during my time in Lod—such as fostering connections across cultural and linguistic divides and navigating complex social realities —now applied on a regional scale. My work at EcoPeace centered on addressing the urgency of the climate crisis with an eye towards regional cooperation, especially given the vulnerability of climate hotspots like the Middle East. Currently a graduate student at Ben Gurion University studying Environmental Science, my research examines environmental effects on the nutritional composition of grains through analysis of archaeological seeds.

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Daniel Cohen

"Through these experiences, Daniel engaged deeply and authentically with the nuanced realities of Israel’s social landscape and fueled his commitment to culturally-informed work."

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